A Broken Melody
by whoalookingcooljoker
Summary: Annabeth and Percy were best friends until they drifted apart in high school. Percy went away and Annabeth had no clue about him until she found some videos of him online making covers of his favorite songs. Maybe she could finally make things right.
1. Chapter One

I don't think that it's worth getting into traveling back to the past to recall the story he and I shared. It's not like it would bring him back, and thinking about it would only cause nostalgia – the bad kind. There should be other things on my mind, other things to worry about. Nostalgia was a waste of time and it didn't have any results anyway.

Although that never stopped me from doing it.

It wasn't a special story. Certainly not the kind you'd find in a book or a movie. We were just two friends who happened to go our separate ways with no intentions of doing so. Of course, there's always someone guilty of causing the rift between two people, and I guess that's why I kept going back to those thoughts.

We met when we were eleven and just entering middle school. I had decided to stay in New York and live with my dad after my parents split up. He was the first person in my grade to talk to me, but I couldn't stand him, at least not in the beginning. For an eleven-year-old, I had a pretty big ego. He seemed like a pretty dumb kid, at least in my mind. Of course, he definitely proved me wrong, but that's beside the point.

Percy Jackson was naïve, slow to understand, and sucked at school. I was the complete opposite. Where Percy excelled at failing classes, I exceeded at being top of the class. The poor kid even asked me to tutor him from time to time, an idea I wasn't too keen of in the beginning. Wow, looking back on it I must have been horrible to Percy. It must have taken courage for him to admit to himself that he needed to do something to pass and all I could do was consider him dead weight.

I learned a lot from Percy. That's what made me reconsider my emotions and my judgment for him. See, my mother raised me to believe that only the wisest are fit for survival, and the wise look out for none other but themselves. Percy had a different philosophy. He didn't believe in selfishness, he put others before himself, and god was that boy loyal to people he cared about.

In turned out that Percy had ADHD and dyslexia, which took him a while to admit to me, but I was surprised that he never bothered to mention them even as an excuse.

Soon he and I became best friends and my view of life did a total one-eighty. I never considered myself an unhappy kid – even after my parents' divorce. I was raised not to whine and to be grateful for what I had, but when I was with Percy, it felt like I had experienced true happiness for the first time.

I had even introduced Percy to some lifelong friends of mine. He instantly got along with Grover which made the three of us inseparable. Thalia argued with him a lot but you could tell the two got along just fine. It was friendly banter anyway. I was most nervous about Luke's approval of him – Sure Thalia's family just as much as Luke is, but Luke had the better judgment of character, plus he was the eldest of our group. It was a relief to see that Percy and him got along (at least at first). During seventh grade Percy had befriended this kid named Nico who didn't seem to interested in joining our little group, but in the end he still hung on for the ride.

Those years in middle school were probably the best of my life. The summers between them were even better. I don't recall a single day I spent without Percy. I remember the time he and I spent our last summer of middle school hunting for jobs so that we could both buy ourselves enough gear to start our own band. And the summer before that when I was teaching Percy how to sing. And the one before where I taught him about music with the piano.

That's another thing Percy taught me to love: music. My mother enrolled me into music lessons when I was a small child since she thought I was "adept" for someone my age. It turns out I was singing opera and playing Mozart at the age of eight. Of course this "talent" wasn't from sheer talent if not for from strict hours of gluing my face to music sheets, vocal exercises, and a piano. It was never a trait I deemed important enough to show off, I mean what could I say? "Look at me I can press make pretty sounds." For some reason I thought I'd show Percy a little bit of it, to which he begged me to teach him.

Now Percy _never_ learned anything about music theory under my tutelage. His excuse was that "something so complicated didn't matter as long as I could play it right", so he didn't even bother to learn. Of course I did teach him the basics, but my god did he have a talent for it. He could definitely sing, and when he first started putting interest in the piano he had started to learn songs he liked until he could play and sing them mindlessly without a flaw. Very little do you see someone with a knack for music when they have no interest in learning the knack for music.

He didn't really care about playing classical. At first all he would play was Green Day, which was pretty weird since their music is very guitar heavy. His favorites were some Panic! At the Disco songs, some Paramore, and even some Coldplay. Once in a while we'd have a few duets. I suppose that's where the idea of starting a band came from.

That summer no one was willing to hire some thirteen year olds for a part time job, but Percy managed to get us a small job with his mom. His mom wanted to be a writer, but the poor woman had to manage by working in a candy store in Grand Central Station. She was the sweetest person I had ever met and often made me wish that my mom was more like her. Sally Jackson was more than happy to have the two of us help her out. The pay wasn't much, but by the end of the summer I managed to buy an acoustic guitar while Percy had the idea of wanting to learn to play bass, even though he couldn't afford an amp to come along with it.

I ended up giving that guitar to him once we hit high school.

Our first year of high school was when our relationship began to deteriorate. If could just say what caused the drift, I had known how to stop it. Except I didn't. It was my fault that Percy and I had stopped talking.

Grover had been held back a year, but he wasn't too mad about it. He said that he'd rather graduate with Percy and me. Nico was finishing up middle school so that already caused an unbalance in the group. Thalia hung out mostly with Luke but she always tried to dedicate her time to the rest of us. Unfortunately, I started hanging out more with Luke too, but for some reason I began to neglect the others. It was the second stupidest thing I've ever done. Luke to me was a safe zone to me, a freshman girl thrust into a totally different environment. He had become popular as the star football player for the Goode High School Team, along with being a major athlete. It felt like every student looked up to him. He did fairly well in school, had some charisma and was on the good side of all the teachers. He was a star. But that's not why I kept close to him; that would have been hypocritical.

I'll be the first to admit that when I entered high school, I was scared beyond my mind. The teen movies and books did not paint a pretty picture for me. I wasn't ready for the stress, both academically and socially.

I clung to Luke because he seemed like the only safe spot inside a pool of lava. He'd been protective of me all my life and he was willing to do it even then. I was eternally grateful for that and even felt I owed him. So I dedicated my time to him. Pretty soon I had been engulfed into Luke's circle of friends. His routines with them became my own. It got to a point where I was just too "busy" to even talk to my other friends. Honestly? These new friends didn't even hold a candle to Percy, but stupid me was too dumb to realize that.

That whole year I spent avoiding Percy. It could swear up and down to myself that it was unintentional, but it's not enough to get rid of the guilt. Of course I had no excuse, but at the time it really felt like I had no other choice but to spend all my time with Luke. Luke had changed. When he was once sweet and patient, he was no abrasive and harsh. His ego had grown larger than ever and thought himself superior to most people in the school, even his "friends". Of course I decided to play stupid and ignore it. Surely the old Luke was still there, and it still did look like that was the case, especially when it came to me.

Percy tried a lot to hang out with me for the first half of the year. He grabbed any opportunity he could, but most of the time our interactions were short lived. He became a lot colder towards Luke as well, and Luke never stopped short to bad mouth Percy either. Of course, being the crappy friend that I was, I could never defend Percy rightfully. At least Percy had the decency to keep his opinions about Luke to himself.

At some point Percy had probably given up. I couldn't blame him. I still remember the last thing he said to me.

We were in a PE class together and Percy decided to stay on the benches that day. Now Percy at the age of fourteen was skinny and short. I was about an inch or two taller than him, but that never stopped him from participating. Granted, he and I hadn't properly spoken to each other in months, but I still decided to go talk to him.

"What's up Seaweed Brain? You're always up for playing some basketball." I tried my best to sound cheery, as if we were still best friends. Percy looked up at me a little confused at first, probably thinking I was a hypocrite for bothering to talk to him after so long. Yet, he still offered me a small smile, but something was off. Percy had the brightest sea-green eyes in the world, but that day they just weren't shining.

"Guess I'm just not feeling it today." He sounded a little uncomfortable, which made me feel uncomfortable as well. So much for acting as if nothing was going on.

"Oh. Well go to the nurse's office?"

"Yeah, I think I might go."

"Okay."

"Yeah." There was an awkward pause that went on for a little longer than I wanted it to.

"Well, I should get going… see you around, Percy." I was already beginning to head back into the game when he called me out.

"Hey Annabeth?" he hesitated for a second, it was strange seeing him nervous. "Take care, okay?"

All I could do was chuckle and smile. Had I known that those were the last words I'd ever hear from him, had it occurred to me that that would be the last time I'd see him, I would have run up to him and hugged him till he forgave me for everything.

He moved away after that. I had no clue of it ever occurring. It was like the bang of a gun aimed for your heart. My life has never been the same since.

According to Thalia, Percy moved to Seattle. I asked her how she knew and all she said was that his dad and her dad pretty much own this big company and their HQ is there. That wasn't exactly the answer I wanted. Grover wasn't much help either. He knew why Percy left, but all he would tell me was that Percy was going through some stuff in his home and his mom thought it'd be best if he lived with his father for the time being. He also mentioned that Percy didn't really want people to know the details.

What could he have been going through? Ugh, if I had only done something to help him, if I had only known; maybe this could have been avoided. Except I didn't and it's already too late. I was a horrible person and a horrible friend to Percy. I couldn't bother to even act as his friend in a time where he needed someone. Of course Percy wouldn't make a big deal about it. I could already imagine him smiling and shaking his head at me. "Don't worry about it, Wise Girl. I've got it covered. You overthink way too much." That Idiot. I was such an idiot. A goddamned selfish pathetic moron. I hadn't changed at all. I was still selfish, I was still petty, I was exactly the girl my mother wanted me to be. All that time learning from Percy meant nothing in the end. I'd never hear from him again.

And it was like that for two years. Every day afterwards felt like a reminder of my biggest mistake. Every day I thought of him and the time we spent together. Of course I reminded myself of messing it up. I had all the power to change things. I could have done something right, but of course I was too blind to know what I was doing,

It was hell without Percy and it was worse not knowing anything about him for almost two years.

That is, until very recently. My first inkling into Percy's life away came after two years, and it was from YouTube.

Percy had started making song covers on his own YouTube channel.


	2. Chapter Two

Lately I've been listening to a lot of music. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I tend to avoid because I have some sort of childhood trauma from being forced to learn it at a young age. I definitely love music. That being said, I usually don't find myself listening to it unless I have nothing else to do, but lately I've managed to multitask.

See, I feel like my taste in music is pretty open minded – mostly thanks to Percy's influence. He got me into genres I thought I'd never listen to such as some punk rock, funk, 2000's emo, hell even some electronic. The kid had a passion for certain bands and artists, I'll give you that. Other than that I occasionally listen to what's popular, some hip hop once in a while, but of course I have my favorites.

My go to musicians are Paramore – again, thanks, Percy – Maroon 5, Lorde, and Imagine Dragons. If I'm feeling for some fun I go to some 80's classics: Sting and The Police, Blondie, Michael Jackson, even the Clash. I know that to a lot of people my taste may be kind of boring and pretty basic, but it's what makes me happy so I don't care. I always thought that people who judged you for your music taste were pretty pathetic. Music is entirely subjective, and sure, some tracks are objectively amazing and really well made, but in the end it's all just a matter of taste. I grew up on classical, and objectively classic music is the best of the best, but I can't stand it. A lot of people love pop, myself included, but Percy hated most pop songs (which was a total lie because you'd totally catch him humming the melody). In the end, I'll listen to about anything and love it.

So why does this all matter? Well, the day I found Percy again was all because I had decided to listen to some music.

It was just another school day in the middle of September. Classes were over and everyone was in a rush to return home. Unfortunately, as rushed as I was, there was no way I was going to get home before 3PM. Starting last year, Luke was my usual ride home. I knew that wasn't something I should get used to since it wasn't really fair for me to expect that from him. Of course, by the end of the year he kept making excuses whenever he couldn't, but I'm glad I taught myself not to get my hopes up. Sadly, since I still don't have a license, that usually meant I had to walk home.

"Sorry I can't give you a ride today, babe," He said with little to no emotion on his voice, but at least he looked a little guilty. "Coach wants us for practice and it's pretty important."

"That's okay, I'll just go home with Malcolm today." I gave him a smile that hopefully gave off that I wasn't really bothered by it. I suppose that was good enough for him because he just grinned and went over to his friends after that.

"So I take it you're coming home with me." Malcolm patted me on the shoulder, a sly grin on his face. I just rolled my eyes because that meant I had to walk home with his friends. I didn't mind them really, but I didn't really know them too well to act comfortably around them. According to Malcolm, some of them only knew me by "Malcolm's hot but intimidating big sister." That's a charming mouthful, but it's not every day you get called intimidating. Of course, I would consider it a compliment.

Truth be told, Malcolm was actually my half-brother. He came from an affair that my dad had and was kept secret for a while. Now he lives with my dad and Susan, my step-mom but his actual mom? It's really complicated. Anyway, Malcolm is currently the person I love the most in my life, and I'm extremely protective over him. He came in a really rough time of my life and was a part of making my life just a little better, along with Percy. Seriously when you've been an only child for years and find out you have a sibling around your age is the best news you could ever get as a kid.

Once we got home, the first thing I did was to take a shower so I could refresh my mind and relieve some stress that was brought in from the day. After that I get into my room and try to do as much work as possible, at least for a few hours. Truth be told, I had a hard time concentrating on my homework that day (even after the shower). I kept getting distracted with stupid things, such as drumming my pen on the desk, checking my phone all the time, hell at one point I even started singing and forgot what I was doing.

Usually, when I get like this I put some music in the background and that helps, but that day I felt for something entirely different. Aside from listening to original songs, one thing I love is to listen to people make covers of songs I like. I had my personal favorite channel for covers but I usually kept it as background noise while studying. The channel was run by this girl named Calypso and it was just under her name, Calypso Atlas. Her covers were really good and from what I could take she puts in a lot of effort to make music videos for those covers. They'd get a decent amount of views too, though she did have around 200k subscribers. Her covers were usually songs that were recent top hits, which made sense since it'd be what would keep her relevant.

I wasn't really feeling for anything new at the moment so I scrolled down her channel until I found something I could be happy with. I noticed that she made a Payphone cover not too long ago so I clicked it and went back to my homework without really paying much attention to it.

The song started out with Calypso's clean vocals with her nearly perfect voice. One thing I did notice was that she didn't sample the instrumental from the original track, rather it sounded as if they were re-recorded just for that cover. The guitar notes weeping along Calypso's vocals were almost as clean as her, and it definitely kept up to the rhythm. The first verse kicked in the catchy _clap clap clap_ from the drums were satisfying to hear as it blended together with everything else. The bass was pretty subtle and hard to notice, which was fair enough.

Once the pre-chorus kicked in you could hear male backing vocals which layered nicely with Calypso's sweet melody. The backing vocals remained solid until the end of the chorus, but once the second verse began I was taken aback. The same male vocals were now singing back at Calypso. Now his voice wasn't as clean as hers, but the delivery was unique. Not a single note hit by him was out of tune. The contrast in vocals was perfect too, Calypso with her sweet poppy voice and this guy with a little distortion. His voice wasn't high pitched like Adam Levine's but it definitely fit the song in the right way. Nor was it too deep that it'd make you feel like you're watching a Postmodern Jukebox cover.

Glancing over at my laptop was a big mistake because I nearly fell damn over my seat.

The title of the video said: Payphone cover ft. Percy Jackson ;). How did I not catch that? Percy Jackson? As in, my Percy Jackson?

Sure enough, the same sea-green eyes were looking back at me through a screen. I nearly cried.

Percy definitely changed in appearance. Sure he had that same goofy look in his eyes and the same raven black haircut that immediately related him to a troublemaker, but he was taller – at least, he looked taller through a screen – he was thin, but not scrawny like when he was fourteen. In fact, he had developed a little muscle mass from the looks of it.

How the hell did he know Calypso and what the hell was he doing in her video?

The music video told two different stories at the same time apparently. Calypso's story had a greener, cheery environment. It showcased her walking through a park on a sunny day. She was wearing a white blouse with high waisted shorts and sandals. Her hair honey colored hair was braided down her shoulder. Her vocals reflected the tone she was trying to give in, and although it fit the video, it was a little strange given the context of the song. It also didn't help that she was constantly smiling. Percy's story did match the song a lot more. His background definitely looked like downtown LA but the gray gloominess of the city fit his character in the video. Where Calypso was walking one direction, Percy was walking the other. If you were to put the two stories together, it would look as if they were walking toward each other, which was a nice contrast between the two. Percy had a casual attire on, a hoodie (which he wears religiously, even now), some blue jeans and some Vans. Instead of looking all happy like Calypso, Percy looked somewhat annoyed and kept glancing at the sky as if it were about the rain (which kind of looked like the case.)

It was worth noting that during Percy's chorus, he would change the lyrics to the song. Apparently Calypso sang the clean lyrics whereas Percy didn't. Where Calypso would say "All those fairy tales are full of it, one more stupid love song I'll be sick," Percy would replace "it" with "shit" and "stupid" with "fucking." Now, Percy rarely swore so it caught me off guard when I first heard it, but I do have to agree that it fit with his side of the story.

During the bridge both characters had gotten to a payphone on their respective sides, Percy on some street next to a store, and Calypso at the park entrance. They sang the final chorus in harmony, which I was iffy about at first. Percy sounded amazing. He put in the right amount of emotion to his voice and did the best that he could to harmonize in Calypso's key, but Calypso kept trying to show off her singing skills which seemed to make it difficult for Percy at first. The scene during the chorus showed Percy on the left half of the screen and Calypso on the other, both talking through a payphone. It actually did look like they were talking to each other through the phone, but Percy looked like he was arguing with her with his facial expressions and gestures; Calypso, on the other hand, looked somewhat indifferent as if she were over whatever had happened.

The video ended with both of them hanging up. From what I could gather Percy's story was about losing someone you love and Calypso's was about moving on with your life? I could be looking too much into it and it could just be an aesthetically pleasing music video for a popular song. Never-the-less, seeing Percy again was interesting (even if he was a little more angsty than I remember him.)

The next video in the recommended had a thumbnail with Calypso and Percy taking a selfie? The title was "LA TRIP – FILMING THE PAYPHONE VIDEO" I immediately clicked on it and was greeted by "Hey guys! Calypso here! So I'm just about to meet up with Percy so that we could film the new video." The video was just an average blog but it got interesting once Calypso received a call from Percy, to which Calypso put on loudspeaker.

"So, uh," Percy stuttered a bit, but hearing his voice gave me butterflies in my stomach as if he were calling me. "Is it too late for me to catch a quick lunch?"

Calypso rolled her eyes and smiled at the camera as if this were something "so Percy-like". Ah, they seem to have their own little inside jokes. "You're kidding, right? Percyyyy, we need to shoot now."

Percy sighed into the speaker. "Okay, okay. I'm already at the park with my stuff, you on your way?"

"Yeah I should be there pretty soon. Tell you what, if you do good today I'll pay for lunch."

"But your taste in food kind of sucks."

"Wow you just said that in front of everyone watching the blog, you ass."

"Oh, I'm on loudspeaker?" I could immediately tell that Percy felt awkward. There was the same edge in his voice that he used the last time he talked to me.

"Mhm, would you like to say something to everyone?"

"Uh, remember to look both ways before crossing the street."

"Jesus Christ, Perce. I'm going to kill you."

"You couldn't if you wanted to."

From that little conversation all I could tell was that they seem… close. It's a no brainer that Percy is comfortable being himself around Calypso, so maybe they're really close friends or something.

The rest of the vlog didn't really show much of Percy. He was either behind the camera a lot or doing work for the music video like checking the lighting, the angles, and whatnot. Whenever Percy was on camera he would just give a polite smirk but would otherwise stay rather quiet. There was also the fact that Calypso kept clinging on to him in a way, which Percy didn't show much of a reaction to that. Then again, Percy was never the type that overhauls his friends with physical contact and he never seemed that much comfortable with it. Not that I was touchy with him back in the day. I would usually just lean my arm on his shoulder or ruffle his hair. Actually I do remember two cases where I just grabbed his hand without thinking, to which he responded with squeezing my hand back, but that's entirely besides the case…

My point is, it's hard to tell how Percy would react to physical contact from a person without knowing how close that person is to him. Percy was never a "lady's man" nor the type of guy who would disrespect your personal space. Then again, whenever someone would "flirt" with him, he'd just get nervous and forget how to speak proper English. The frustrating thing about it is that it's hard to tell what Calypso and Percy are based on Percy's reaction. Maybe Calypso has one of those clingy personalities, which is perfectly okay. Maybe Percy is just her assistant and helps her out with some videos. Then again, Percy did talk to her like he used to talk to his friends. Hell, why would I even worry so much about that?

I skimmed through a few more of her vlogs and covers. Not many of her vlogs featured Percy, and if they did it was very brief. As for her covers, he was in a lot of them. Sometimes all he did was play some instrument in the background for her music videos. Others he'd just be an extra. Very rarely did they sing together. Calypso's taste in music was different from Percy's, so I imagine he wouldn't really bother to learn the lyrics to most of the songs she liked.

It wasn't till I stumbled upon Calypso's cover of Ed Sheeran's Shape of You that I found Percy's channel. Percy didn't really appear in the video but he was credited for the instrumentals. I don't why I hadn't bothered to check before, but at the end of the video I looked into the description and found a link that led me to a channel called Band With One Man.

The latest video on the channel was "Hard Times – Paramore (cover)". I was finally getting to see Percy cover his kind of music. Except I didn't. I rolled my eyes as soon as the video started because immediately it started with Calypso singing. Even on Percy's channel she's a star.

The editing was completely distinct of Calypso's videos. Calypso made music videos which took a lot more time and effort for one cover. They were heavily edited but the end result usually looked fantastic. Percy's videos were lacking in that department, but I preferred it. The video looked like a collage of four videos playing at the same time. On the top right was Percy with his guitar, top left with his bass, and covering the whole bottom of the screen was Percy playing the drums. It really gave the illusion of an actual one man band. Calypso was in each portion of the screen with a microphone stand wearing the same pink jumpsuit Hayley Williams was wearing for the marketing photos of their recent album. Percy wore a blue jumpsuit and some sunglasses, which was a pretty funny picture.

It was beautiful how Percy managed to make each instrument sound good layered together and it was fascinating to see his dexterity on each of them throughout the video. I really wished he sang in the video to add a little extra flavor to it. Calypso sang great, as usual but her style just wasn't fitting. It's good when singers add their own flair when doing covers, but her style did not fit Paramore. Hayley Williams rarely used vibrato in her songs, but Calypso just had to do it at the end of each line.

The only part of the video that really annoyed me was around the end. Calypso spent most of the video dancing along to her singing while Percy concentrated on the respectful instruments. They hardly interacted at all, except when Calypso started walking around Percy's drum kit with her microphone in hand. She nearly tangled the wire around Percy's shoulders before taking a seat on his lap and caressing his face. I had to pause the video to pinch my nose. Was I overreacting? Probably, but it just came out of nowhere. She kept smiling and singing as she sat comfortably on his lap while Percy kept the same straight face and just kept on beating the drums as if nothing were happening. I was half glad he showed no emotion to this, whether or not that was planned for the video.

Despite the cover being good, it left a bad taste in my mouth so I just clicked onto the next video, "Why Don't You Get a Job – The Offspring (cover)". Hard times had nearly 90,000 views but this one was barely reaching 1,000. It clicked on me that it was probably due to Calypso having 200k subscribers and Percy only having about 15k, which seemed really unfair.

I was a lot happier with the second video. It was edited in the same style, except it was all Percy and his instruments. What I adored the most about was that the video was just so much like Percy. The singing, the instruments, the energy! Percy was having a blast playing a fast paced song and he was smiling all through it. He genuinely sounded like he was having fun while singing, despite that his voice wasn't like Dexter Holland. That's the thing with Percy: he adds so much of himself into his videos that it just makes them feel more personal. It made me appreciate them a lot more. That was the Percy I remembered. He really did learn how to play the bass after all, since he favored singing while playing bass as opposed to the guitar, and he was damn great at it.

I glanced at how many videos he had made, and there were about 200 of them. At the time I had completely forgotten about studying since my mind was stuck on the idea of binging every single one of Percy's videos. Maybe I could find something out about him. Maybe there were answers as to why he left. Hell, it would be great to see how he was doing. I was determined to find out.

Hey! The amount of reviews from everyone has been amazing! I really appreciate all the kind words. Thank you so much, and if you have anything you think I should do better I'm more than happy to listen! Reviews and criticism are greatly appreciated!


	3. Chapter Three

If I were to tell you that I went through all of Percy's videos in one sitting I'd be a liar. I wanted to - and I thought I would be able to, but it was difficult. Not because I couldn't stand them or because I thought they were boring – quite the contrary. I found myself replaying the same videos over and over. Sometimes (more like every time) I loved that I could hear his voice. Sometimes I just loved the song he was singing. Mostly, I was (over)analyzing his videos trying to see if I could catch little details or if there was anything he was trying to say with the songs he chose to cover.

In all honesty, it took me about a week. I would have liked to finish them sooner, but I _am_ a student and as much as I wanted free time to spend on YouTube all day, my grades are still a priority.

Percy's style of making a video was unchanging. Very raw and down to earth, layered in panels with each panel representing a part of the band, for example: The left panel would be him on the bass, the bottom one would be him on the drums, another for lead guitar, and one for rhythm guitar. It seemed that his favored instrument to use while singing was the bass.

That wasn't always the way he filmed a video, though. His first few videos were just one whole take of him playing the guitar and singing with no processing or no other instruments to back him up. Oddly enough his first cover was Payphone and I'll have to admit, his raw acoustic version was the one I favored against the collaboration cover he did with Calypso. Not because I was biased to him or anything (maybe I was.) In the Calypso cover his vocals sounded emotional but they were slightly distorted and I loved it. It sounded like a mix of bitter sadness and anger. His cover had the same emotion to it, but the controlled distortion – no, the lack of distortion in his vocals simply carried me away. They were soft and sad and it actually sounded like he was going through heartbreak. The weeping guitar chords matched him so brilliantly. The rhythm wasn't slow but it didn't have the banging beat the original had. Instead he controlled it to a more realistic level to the point where it sounded like he was telling a story and I was hooked in with every verse.

His first few covers were these really emotional pieces but only one of them managed to make me cry. One thing I overlooked in these videos was that the guitar he was using was MY guitar. I only really noticed when he covered one of my favorite songs, Death Cab For Cutie's I Will Follow You Into The Dark. I was excited when I clicked on the video and surprised to see that same guitar that I handed over to him. He still kept the little owl sticker I placed on the body. It was this Peavy electric-acoustic guitar with metallic strings. Percy always used to complain about the strings cutting into his fingers, but in this video he played it masterfully.

I didn't cry because he was using my guitar. Yes, it was sweet and a welcome surprise that he cherished it still (despite everything I did). I cried because, for the first time in two years I felt like Percy wasn't just singing to me, he was talking to me. You could say that anyone could feel that way from listening to their favorite YouTuber sing to them, and you could be right, but this one song had a particular weight of importance to it. It meant a lot to me, and Percy _knew_ it meant a lot to me. I remember our conversation regarding that song.

"Hey, Annabeth?" Percy asked me halfway throughout his piano lessons. For the first time he sounded timid about something.

"Did I confuse you again? That's okay, I can explain it for you if you want. Ballads are kind of boring to play, anyway."

"No, it's not that. I was just wondering something is all."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"You'd probably think it's stupid." He was smirking slightly as if he knew the exact words I was about to say. I had to smirk back at him."

"Seaweed Brain, half the things you say are stupid."

"Wow, definitely didn't see that one from a mile away."

"Oh, shut up and get to the point."

"Okay, okay!" He was chuckling slightly and scratching the back of his head. Was he nervous? "All right, promise you won't laugh. What's your favorite love song?"

I didn't laugh, but I did raise an eyebrow suspiciously. There had to be a reason why he was asking, and I was afraid I wasn't going to like it if I found out. "Are you thinking of serenating some girl or something?"

He let out a frustrated sigh and rolled his eyes. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

He went back to practicing on the piano, but I interrupted him after a long pause. "I'll Follow You Into The Dark."

"What?" he stopped playing abruptly and gave me a quizzical look.

"My favorite love song, dummy."

"Oh." There was a small pause. "Oh! I see! Why is it your favorite?"

Wow, that's a tough thing to answer. It was hard enough trying to think of a song considering that I rarely listen to love songs. Why did I like it so much? Well, the message of it was sweet but it's not just the sweetness that attracted me to it. "Well, I really like how it's meant to be permanent."

"Uh, what do you mean…?"

"It's about loving someone no matter what to the point where not even death and keep them apart. If that doesn't sound permanently eternal then I don't know what is. I like the idea of having something like that." And I really did, but I doubted I'd ever achieve it. In the real world people get separated or get bored of each other. In a lot of relationships, people make mistakes that causes a separation. Hell, my parents were proof enough of that. "I know, it's really cheesy."

"I don't think it's cheesy at all. If it's worth anything, my favorite is The Only Exception by Paramore."

"Wow, that's another good one. Why do you like it so much?"

"Because it reminds me of - well, Hayley Williams didn't believe in finding a long lasting love because of her parents, right? But she did. She found the only exception that sparked that hope of loving someone forever. I believe that could be the case for anyone, right? Why are you smiling? God dammit, you're laughing at me aren't you?"

I didn't even notice that I was smiling but Percy's words felt so honest and so real that it made me think maybe just maybe he was right.

And there he was, singing my favorite love song, knowing how much it meant to me. And it was sad that he was so far away. It was sad that I couldn't reach him or apologize to him or do anything to have him back. It was sad to feel so connected yet to be disconnected and bordered by a screen between us. It was mortifying to feel so aware of him being there, singing with his beautiful voice and playing my guitar with so much dexterity only to realize that he didn't know that I was here. He didn't know that I was watching. Yet with this song he showed me that he was hoping I'd be here to listen. I was too late.

I found myself returning to that video the most, honestly.

There was one video from this era that was a bit of an oddball. Apparently Percy had joined an acapella group from his new school. There was only one video on it, but it was interesting. I assumed Percy must have asked his dad to film it because the point of view was from the seats of a theater room. A group of high school kids were on the stage, forming three rows for the audiences. They were all well dressed, the boys wearing suits and ties, the girls wearing a mix of black colored dresses. Most of the boys' hair were neatly combed, but Percy stood out with his messy hair. He was among the tallest of the boys so he stood on the back row, but it was clear enough to see him. I didn't recognize anyone else besides Calypso, who looked gorgeous with her caramel hair braided down her shoulder while her silky dark dress hugged her body. Due to her six inch heels, she was one of the taller girls on stage.

There was clapping and murmuring reverberating through the playroom – including the group that was about to perform – but after some shuffling, the crowd went silent. The teenagers were a mixed bag of nervous expressions, but I could count about three or four people who looked way too confident – Calypso and Percy included.

And then they sang like a choir of angels. Their voices unified into one loud boom echoing through the chamber, their music and pitch elevating the crowd's interest with their pristine harmony. They sang Fun.'s Some Nights. The lead vocal was from a boy with his hair braided into corn rows with a voice so sweet that it would compete with songbirds. The back row provided percussion by stomping their feet in a perfect beat all while supporting the boy's voice. He sang the first verse and chorus. Another voice took over for the bridge. I recognized Calypso's perfectly pitched vibration on the last "come on" only for Percy to take over the next verse. It was almost too perfect how the lyrics were so related to him, it's like he personally chose to sing that part. "This one is not for the folks back home, Sorry to leave mom I had to go, Who the fuck wants to die alone all dried up in a desert sun" there was a small smirk on his face as he sang this part as if the whole group had agreed that they wouldn't say "fuck" in front of a live audience at school, but Percy did it anyway. I did notice a few glances at him from other people on stage. He changed the lyrics at the last part to relate more to the song, but it felt even more emotional: "My heart is breaking for my mother and the con that she called love, but she looks into my eyes and says 'Man, you wouldn't believe the most amazing things that can come from some terrible nights'".

The same boy who sang the first verse sang the last verse and the outro perfectly, even without the auto tune. Afterwards, the crowd roared wildly, Percy's dad getting up from his seat to cheer him on. There was clapping all around and then the video ended. It took me a few seconds before I realized that I was so immersed that I had gotten up from my seat – I almost even clapped. That would have been hard to explain to Malcolm.

After some time, his videos did find their current identity, although that did take quite a while. I came to notice that Percy was as interactive as he could be with his videos. His followers weren't that huge, so it wasn't rare to find that he replies to a lot of the comments he gets. Most comments were related to the video or to the lyrics and how Percy could emulate the emotions so perfectly, to which he'd just reply with a silly comment like "guess you gotta live through it to relate to it haha :)". Most of the comments that he ignored were usually girls talking about how hot he was or how sexy his voice sounded. Frankly, ignoring them _is_ something that Percy would do. You've never seen a walking bundle of nerves until you've seen a girl flirt with Percy.

His most recent video was very disappointing, especially for me. Not because he covered a song wrong or because it was boring; it was something entirely different. The video was titled "Bad News :/". Well, that's one way to grab my attention and make me panic. Did something happen to him? It turned out that Percy wasn't able to make any more videos for some time and that he didn't know when he'd be back. He didn't really appear in the video, he just made a slideshow with nothing but text on the screen. At the end of the video he announced a little activity for his followers. He asked them to send him videos of themselves covering whatever song they like, but it had to be over twitter.

So I got to work.

My heart was all I could hear as I sat down at the piano. My fingers were trembling as I rest them on the piano keys. My mind was a flash of blank thoughts. I was vaguely aware of my phone recording me and more aware of my breathing. How long did I sit there doing nothing and why was I feeling so on edge about a stupid cover. I cleared my throat, forced a smile to the camera… and then what? What was I even going to play?

This was a stupid idea. I had gotten so excited about showing this to Percy and it never crossed my mind that Percy would more than likely ignore it. I wouldn't blame him if he did. Wouldn't it be weird if your ex-best friend just sent you a cover of your favorite love song? _Hi, let's ignore the past few years of avoiding each other. Anyway, here's a song you really like. Wanna be friends again?_

What the hell was wrong with me, wanting to sing The Only Exception? Of course he'd be confused about that. It wasn't like I could play the damn song anyway. Every. Single. Time. My mind kept going blank every single time. I could barely sing the first verse. I kept making mistakes. When I thought I had a proper flow, I'd panic and play or sing out of rhythm. I'd catch myself swearing midway through. It's amazing how I fought the temptation to bash my head against the keys.

What was it that I used to tell Percy? Sometimes it's best to let the music flow instead of thinking about what you're going to play. I couldn't flow with this song because it's not my song. I'm aware of the message. I understand its meaning. I know it's important for Percy, but it wasn't _mine._

 _Then let the music flow_ , I told myself.

I ended up singing Liability by Lorde: a song that feels like it was written for people like me. Not only was it a perfect ballad to sing along with a piano, but it was a song that I could relate to. I've always felt alone, in a way. Not unloved or hated and not exactly lonely. I've always felt that people would prefer to be distant from me. Maybe they were intimidated by me. Perhaps they thought I was cold-hearted or big headed. Some may say my ego is big enough to stop me from befriending people below me. It hurt.

I was raised in a way that made me believe that it always better to show the best of you and that one must never let others see your flaws. Because of that people always treated me like I was flawless. My peers and classmates talk to me with a very thin veil of friendliness and more out of fear of getting on my bad side. The people who don't like me despise because – and I quote – I act like I'm "too perfect". It was an overwhelming headache trying to figure out who was being hypocritical and who was being genuine. In the end I felt like it was all my fault. I was the liability.

Right now there are only a handful of people that I can say for sure are natural with me, but Percy was the one who did it best. He was never afraid of challenging my views on the world around me. With him, I felt that – for the first time in my life – I could stop with the appearances and just be myself. I was allowed to laugh when I wanted to, cry when I was upset, talk whenever I wanted to talk, relax when I was tired. It all came so spontaneously with him. I don't know when it started, but I was glad it did. Of course, before him Thalia and Luke had provided the emotional support that I needed, but Percy dug me out of a hole and gave me wings.

The cover was done on my first try. By the time that I finished, my eyes stung a bit, but there was still a small smile on my face. After some very amateur editing (which just consisted of cutting out the process of finding the perfect angle) I looked up Percy on twitter. I had no idea I was already following him, but he wasn't very active anyway.

After several minutes of second guessing, I uploaded the video and tagged him. I was sweating, despite my chilly breath and shaking fingers. Afterwards, I just sat there staring at my screen and going through his twitter feed. All he really posted were links to his videos. Once in a while there were interactions – a few of them interesting. Percy had kept in contact with Grover, judging that most of his interactions were with him. I caught a few replies between him, Thalia, and Nico once in a while. They were generally friendly with a bit of their usual banter. Other than Grover, the person that interacted the most with him was Calypso.

Calypso had her Twitter and Instagram linked, so whenever she uploaded a picture you could see it easily in her feed. Most were well taken selfies and pretty pictures, but damn that girl loved taking pictures with/of Percy. They all had weird captions too like "Can't wait to spend the summer with this hunk" along with a bunch of heart eyes emoji. Percy always looked uncomfortable or surprised that his picture was being taken. I had to agree with Calypso, though – Percy was just naturally attractive, especially lately. Their selfies annoyed me a little. Why was she so close to him? As far as I knew, Percy never liked people invading his personal space. In every single picture she would either be hugging him or kissing him on the cheek. Percy would just give an awkward smile to the camera. If these two were dating, why was he so scared of showing it?

Before I had the chance to block her, I was greeted from a notification. Percy liked my video. The immediate reaction wasn't what had my heart thumping, it was the notification in my direct messages. I was dumbfounded, barely able to think on what to say to him. I barely expected Percy to see my cover, but I never thought he'd actually reply to it. I replied to him before I chickened out and gave off the impression that I was ignoring him. The conversation was brief, but enough to make my week:

Percy: wow really great cover Annabeth

Annabeth: Haha, thank you!

Percy: i didnt know you watched my videos lol

Annabeth: To be honest, I recently found out that you made videos. I love your covers!

Percy: thanks it means a lot. im impressed by how you sang yours tho

Annabeth: I guess I just had to let the music flow.

Percy: a wise girl once said that to me once :)

Annabeth: She sounds real smart, haha.

Percy: anyway ill be seeing ya. it was nice chatting

Annabeth. You too, bye!

That was our first conversation in two years. Hell, it was our first fluid conversation since he and I started high school. There were no awkward pauses or scattered eye glances. We were no longer tip-toeing around our words. Sure, it was trivial conversation and we didn't get too deep into it, but that was enough for me. After two years of avoiding each other and being away from each other, it felt nice to have that one little moment. I never expected him to talk to me as a friend again. I imagined our first conversation with each other with a lot more anger from his part. I imagined an extensive amount of apologizing from my end. Maybe we'll get to that if this keeps going on. I don't mind taking things slowly and putting the pieces back together. I had this funny feeling in my stomach – a ticklish fluttering that went all the way up to my chest every time I thought about our conversation. I was still smiling to myself when I went to bed. Everything was going to be okay as long as we took our time.

Except life works in funny ways for Annabeth Chase, and we never had the chance to take our time.

The next morning at school, my giddy feeling was interrupted as I met up with Thalia. She had an analyzing expression on her face as I walked up to her.

"Judging by your smile, I guess you know already." There was a playful smirk on her face as we walked to our lockers.

Of course I was still thinking about yesterday, how could I forget? Too busy that I forgot to keep a neutral expression. Upon Thalia's questioning, I managed to raise an eyebrow at her question. "Know what?"

"Oh come on, you look awfully excited about it. No need in hiding it, I won't judge," she said after flinging her arm over my shoulder and poking my ribs.

"I have no idea what you're talking about – What are you giving me that look for? I seriously don't know!"

She stopped walking and looked me straight in the eye while frowning. I just shrugged at her glare before she could roll her eyes, but eventually she believed me.

"Are you going to tell me what's up or not?" I was beginning to get impatient. I leaned against my locker and crossed my arms, glaring at Thalia as she took a deep breath.

"All right, you'll want to listen closely. You may not believe me but— Hey, you okay? You're looking a little pale."

"Percy's back."

"You already knew! You suck at playing dumb, Annabeth."

"No, he's right there."

My heart was pounding in my throat as I looked over Thalia's shoulder. A few feet behind her a tumble of raven black hair could be seen in the distance. He was walking with Grover as if they'd always walked these hallways together. I could barely catch my breath when his eyes landed on me. He gave me a small smile and a tiny wave but he kept walking. All I could do was return the gesture.

He's back.


End file.
